UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity.

When I read commentary about suggestions for where C should go, I often think back and give thanks that it wasn't developed under the advice of a worldwide crowd.

Pretty much everything on the web uses those two things: C and UNIX.

It seems certain that much of the success of Unix follows from the readability, modifiability, and portability of its software.

Twenty percent of all input forms filled out by people contain bad data.

Obviously, the person who had most influence on my career was Ken Thompson. Unix was basically his, likewise C's predecessor, likewise much of the basis of Plan 9 (though Rob Pike was the real force in getting it together). And in the meantime Ken created the first computer chess master and pretty much rewrote the book on chess endgames. He is quite a phenomenon.

Steve Jobs has said that Xwindows is brain-damamged and will disappear in two years. He got it half-right.